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Minor Chrome Beta 39 Update Tweaks Undo Tab Close Option And Hides Reader Mode In The Flags Menu
Chrome's latest Beta update tweaks the Undo Tab Close options and more.
Update: As commenters have pointed out, the undo close tab option has been available before now - it's just the look that has changed. I've updated the screenshots to reflect this.
Now that you can put widgets on your lockscreen, there's a whole host of things you can do even before unlocking your phone. and if that's not enough, there are a few alternative lockscreens that will let you do even more. Today we're getting another one from a slightly surprising source: Microsoft. Say hello to the Next Lock Screen, an app from the company's Microsoft Garage internal team.
Google has just launched a new email system, but you can only get on in by requesting an invitation or being sent one from a friend. No, it's not 2004, it's Google's new Inbox system, an alternative to Gmail and a new way to look at electronic messaging in general. We've highlighted the new system before its official release, but now you can get it for yourself... if you're lucky enough to get through the invitation system.
You have to look back pretty far to find a Rovio game that doesn't star aggravated avians. Last year the company developed the official mobile game for the unremarkable Dreamworks movie The Croods, but before that you have to look all the way back to Amazing Alex in 2012. Perhaps Rovio simply got tired of seeing their main franchise ripped off by a thousand mediocre wannabes, because now the internal developer LVL11 has released a Flappy Bird clone.
32 Best (And 1 WTF) New Android Apps And Live Wallpapers From The Last 2 Weeks (10/07/14 - 10/21/14)
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Update: Well, that didn't take long. We've already received the APK for the update (Google Play Music version 5.7.1717Q.1530520). The download is at the end of the post.
Google's two-factor authentication system is a great way to keep your email and other accounts safe, especially if you've always got a smartphone (or even a dumb phone) around. Today Google is adding even more options beyond the current phone call, text message, email, and app-based verification. The latest update to the desktop version of Chrome lets you use a USB key as your two-factor security token, ensuring access via both your physical presence and your login password.
In the Android Police review of the OnePlus One, we called it "the best flagship you can't buy." That will change soon: the independent and often divisive manufacturer has finally seen fit to set aside its invitation system and start selling phones the old-fashioned way. Pre-orders will be available via OnePlus.net starting on Monday, October 27th at 15:00 GMT (8 AM Eastern time).
Spotify Announces Family Subscriptions In The US: $5 Each For Up To Four Additional Premium Accounts
Spotify has announced an option for families that allows them to add discounted accounts to a primary Spotify account, very much like a carrier family plan. After signing up for a standard $9.99 Spotify Premium subscription, users in the US can add up to four more premium accounts for $5 each, a 50% discount. A family of five can thus get a premium account for each member for a total of $29.99 a month.
Thanks to high-end specs, a relatively "clean" build of Android, and Motorola's improved reputation, the Moto X 2014 (AKA Moto X Second Generation) is fast becoming a favorite among Android power users. And now that it's been out in the wild for a few weeks, the modders are lining up to write the usual custom ROMs and tweaks. To help facilitate that, the folks at Team Win have brought their custom recovery to the new flagship.
Update: the original Talon for Twitter has reached its token limit, making it impossible for new users to sign in. It has been removed from the Play Store and the source code has been published.
American political satirist and future host of The Late Show Stephen Colbert is five feet, eleven inches tall, ever so slightly taller than the average United States male. Allegedly - we've only got his truthy word for it. So when Colbert Googled himself on the toilet and found that the search engine's automatically-generated answer to the question of his height was a mere 5'10", he became upset. In the way only he can, which is to say, immediately suspecting a conspiracy to bring him down from the lofty height of 71 inches to merely 70.
A couple of the more popular aftermarket additions to Android have been added in Lollipop's pull-down Quick Settings menu. If you regularly flash a custom ROM or add in a widget from the Play Store for easy access to a battery percentage readout or a flashlight (camera LED) toggle, well, you won't need to in Android 5.0. Both of those functions are available in Quick Settings, as seen on the latest Lollipop Developer Preview on the Nexus 5.
The FCC's Testing Report On The Nexus Player Is Finished, But It's Still Not Available For Pre-Order
In the United States, all electronic devices that use certain wireless radio transmissions, including cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other standards and frequencies, must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. It's technically illegal for retailers to sell devices that haven't been approved, which is probably why Google had to rapidly remove the Nexus Player pre-order status from the Play Store on Friday. But now the results of the FCC's tests on the Player have been posted to the Commission website.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got an interesting roguelike card game, a slightly insane space fighter, a Very Special adventure game, a much more interesting adventure game, a Ubisoft tower defense title, and a new take on Tetris puzzles. Without further ado:
Just like the new version of Google Play Movies & TV, the Google Play Games app sourced from the recent ADT-1 Android TV device update works fine on recent phones and tablets. There doesn't appear to be any huge functionality improvement in this release, it's merely a shiny new coat of paint. That being the case, it might be best to wait for the official phone/tablet update. If you don't want to wait that long, then have at it with the update below.
We've been digging into some of the apps that come with the latest update for the ADT-1 Android TV device. Interestingly enough, some of these apps work just fine when side-loaded onto standard phones or tablets - it looks like they contain all the standard resources and layouts for both versions of Android. You can check out the changes for Google Play Movies & TV below - there are some notable ones for Chromecast users.
Staying in a hotel with crappy Wi-Fi is frustrating, but not half so frustrating as finding this out by starting up your phone, connecting, realizing there's no Internet access, then manually disabling Wi-Fi to make sure it goes back to 3G or LTE. In Lollipop, Android 5.0 will do that for you: when the system sees no connection to the Internet (or more probably Google servers) via a Wi-Fi connection on a device with a cellular radio, it will automatically default to mobile data to keep an active connection. Neat!
Technically the Developer Preview builds of Android L that Google issued are meant only for, well, developers. But of course a ton of regular users have downloaded them to try out Lollipop, and those users tend to be the same ones that like to use root apps. The updated Android 5.0 preview builds for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 2013 issued yesterday broke the existing root functions, so SuperSU developer Chainfire issued a quick fix.
Chrome and Android have been strengthening the old Google family ties for a while now, but according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, they just got a little tighter. The WSJ reports that Hiroshi Lockheimer, who currently serves as the Vice President of Engineering for Android, has also assumed the role of Vice President of Engineering for Chrome. That would put him in charge to a greater or lesser degree of the Chrome browser on desktops, Chromebooks and similar ChromeOS hardware, and Chrome on Android and iOS, plus whatever else Google has cooking up.